Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41M—PRINTING, DUPLICATING, MARKING, OR COPYING PROCESSES; COLOUR PRINTING
  • B41M5/00—Duplicating or marking methods; Sheet materials for use therein
  • B41M5/26—Thermography ; Marking by high energetic means, e.g. laser otherwise than by burning, and characterised by the material used
  • B41M5/382—Contact thermal transfer or sublimation processes
  • B41M5/3825—Electric current carrying heat transfer sheets
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
  • B41J31/00—Ink ribbons; Renovating or testing ink ribbons
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B41—PRINTING; LINING MACHINES; TYPEWRITERS; STAMPS
  • B41J—TYPEWRITERS; SELECTIVE PRINTING MECHANISMS, i.e. MECHANISMS PRINTING OTHERWISE THAN FROM A FORME; CORRECTION OF TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS
  • B41J31/00—Ink ribbons; Renovating or testing ink ribbons
  • B41J31/05—Ink ribbons having coatings other than impression-material coatings
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H01—ELECTRIC ELEMENTS
  • H01F—MAGNETS; INDUCTANCES; TRANSFORMERS; SELECTION OF MATERIALS FOR THEIR MAGNETIC PROPERTIES
  • H01F41/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing or assembling magnets, inductances or transformers; Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing materials characterised by their magnetic properties
  • H01F41/14—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing or assembling magnets, inductances or transformers; Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing materials characterised by their magnetic properties for applying magnetic films to substrates
  • H01F41/16—Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing or assembling magnets, inductances or transformers; Apparatus or processes specially adapted for manufacturing materials characterised by their magnetic properties for applying magnetic films to substrates the magnetic material being applied in the form of particles, e.g. by serigraphy, to form thick magnetic films or precursors therefor
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10S—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10S428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10S428/90—Magnetic feature
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/30—Self-sustaining carbon mass or layer with impregnant or other layer
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/31504—Composite [nonstructural laminate]
  • Y10T428/31507—Of polycarbonate
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/31504—Composite [nonstructural laminate]
  • Y10T428/31678—Of metal
  • Y10T428/31681—Next to polyester, polyamide or polyimide [e.g., alkyd, glue, or nylon, etc.]
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/31504—Composite [nonstructural laminate]
  • Y10T428/31678—Of metal
  • Y10T428/31692—Next to addition polymer from unsaturated monomers
  • Y10T428/31699—Ester, halide or nitrile of addition polymer
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y10—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC
  • Y10T—TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION
  • Y10T428/00—Stock material or miscellaneous articles
  • Y10T428/31504—Composite [nonstructural laminate]
  • Y10T428/31725—Of polyamide

Definitions

• the present invention relates to magnetic meltable inks and ribbons therefor for non-impact printing and more particularly but not exclusively for non-impact printing of checks and other machine readable documents.
• non-impact printing as a broad concept is now well known in the art. It has become a more and more popular means of printing in typewriters, computer printers and the like because of the elimination of the very high noise associated with impact technologies such as dot matrix and daisy wheel systems.
• the basic principal of the non-impact printing is the use of heat to melt an ink coating from the ribbon to form an image on a receiver substrate such as paper.
• the conventional thermal transfer process employs a thermal printhead which is a resistor, and the ribbon is composed of a substrate of polyester film with a wax ink coating applied to one side.
• the printhead generates a thermal energy which comes in contact with the polyester. The heat is transmitted from the printhead through the polyester to the wax ink coating which melts to form the image.
• the thermal printhead must, of course, be cooled down and reheated for each separate image formation.
• a more recent non-impact system often referred to as an electrically resistive heat transfer system differs from the conventional thermal transfer system both in printhead and in ribbon construction.
• the printhead is not a resistor and does not itself generate heat per se, but rather is composed of a plurality of thin wires or electrodes which pass an electrical current. The heat needed for production of the image is generated within the ribbon itself by the electrical current from the printhead.
• the ribbon itself is in effect the resistor and normally comprises three layers: a conductive polymer film which will serve as a resistor with respect to the electric current and thereby generate heat; a thin layer of metal such as aluminum usually applied by vacuum deposition techniques; and the third ink containing meltable polymer based layer which will melt in response to the heat generated in the polymer film, and transfer from the metal layer to the substrate in the form of the desired image.
• An additional release layer is sometimes employed between the aluminum and the ink layer to further facilitate the transfer of the ink to the substrate.
• the electrically resistive heat transfer techniques have a number of significant advantages over so-called conventional thermal transfer techniques. First, they substantially lower the printer costs, since they eliminate the necessity for expensive components to cool and reheat the printhead. Also, they facilitate higher printing speeds since they don't require a conventional resistor thermal printhead which must be cooled down and reheated between images. And, perhaps most important, these new techniques can generate better print quality, since the heat is generated within the ribbon itself and is not dissipated by going through intermediate layers, thereby providing better print quality over a much wider range of papers, films and other substrates.
• the materials employed in the ink layer of electrically resistive heat transfer ribbons have consisted primarily of pigments such as carbon black and other inorganic materials.
• U.S. Patent 4, 103,066 discloses a ribbon for non-impact printing which comprises a transfer layer and a substrate.
• the substrate is a polycarbonate resin containing from about 15 to about 40% electrically conductive carbon black and the transfer coating is made up of wax, carbon black and a dye such as methyl violet dye.
• U.S. Patent No. 4,549,824 discloses the use of azo dyes in thermal ink transfer applications, but these dyes facilitate the use of lower temperatures rather than providing erasure proof print characters on the ultimate substrate.
• Such a loading of magnetic oxide has been considered essential to obtain both visual print quality and the desired level of signal transmission for machine scanning. Yet such loadings are clearly impossible in thermal transfer applications, where the ink layer must melt and transfer to the paper or document substrate, because the melting points of the magnetic oxides are several orders of magnitude higher than the general limit at 150°C required to avoid melting the electrically resistive polymer substrate.
• magnetic meltable ink for non-impact printing of documents which are normally processed using magnetic reader/sorter equipment, consisting essentially of from about 60 to about 80 parts by weight of a solvent comprising at least one member selected from the group consisting of aliphatic alcohols having from 1 to about 5 carbon atoms, and aromatic hydrocarbons having from about 6 to about 10 carbon atoms; about 10 to about 30 parts by weight of a meltable polymer; from about 10 to about 30 parts by weight of a magnetic oxide; from about 1 to about 4 parts by weight of a plasticizer; from about 0 to about 10 parts by weight of carbon black and from about 0 to about 10 parts by weight of an alcohol soluble dye.
• a solvent comprising at least one member selected from the group consisting of aliphatic alcohols having from 1 to about 5 carbon atoms, and aromatic hydrocarbons having from about 6 to about 10 carbon atoms
• about 10 to about 30 parts by weight of a meltable polymer from about 10 to about 30 parts by weight of a magnetic oxide; from about 1 to about
• said alcohol soluble dye is present in the range from about 0 to about 5 parts by weight.
• said alcohol soluble dye is present in the range from about 1 to about 10 parts by weight.
• the alcohol soluble dye makes the ink useful for non-impact erasure proof printing of documents such as checks, negotiable instruments and the like.
• said ink contains at least from about 5 to about 25% by weight plasticizer based on the weight of the polyamide polymer.
• the plasticizer may be selected from the group consisting of dioctyl azolate, dioctyl phthalate, dodecyl azolate, diisooctyl azoalate, butyl stearate, isopropyl palmitate, and similar esters, fatty acids and the like.
• said ink has a melting point below 140°C.
• the weight ratio of the polyamide polymer to the magnetic oxide is in the range of from about 4:6 to about 6:4.
• said solvent comprises a mixture of isopropyl alcohol and toluene.
• said alcohol and said toluene are present in a weight ratio in the range of from about 8:3 to about 3:8.
• said alcohol soluble dye is nigrosine dye and is present in the range of from about 0.5 to about 4 parts by weight or from about 1.0 to about 5.0 parts by weight.
• a ribbon for non-impact printing of documents which are normally processed using magnetic reader/sorter equipment, comprising an electrically conductive polymer substrate and a magnetic meltable ink layer with a thin film of metal disposed between said substrate and said ink layer, said magnetic meltable ink being in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention.
• said electrically conductive polymer substrate consists essentially of a polycarbonate polymer containing from about 20 to about 40 percent by weight of an electrically conductive carbon black.
• a method of manufacturing a ribbon for non-impact printing of documents which are normally processed using magnetic reader/sorter equipment comprising applying the magnetic meltable ink in accordance with the first aspect of the present invention to a metallically coated side of an electrically conductive polymer substrate.
• said solvent in said ink is allowed to evaporate so as to dry said ink.
• the ribbon comprises a polycarbonate polymer substrate having a thickness of from about 10 to about 20 microns, a thin film of aluminum having a thickness of from about 800 to about 1200 angstroms, preferably applied to the polycarbonate substrate by vapor deposition techniques, and an ink layer having a melting point below that of the polycarbonate substrate and a thickness of from about 5 to about 20 microns.
• the preferred ink composition consists essentially of from about 50 to about 80 parts by weight of a solvent comprising at least one member selected from the group consisting of aliphatic alcohols having from 1 to about 5 carbon atoms, and aromatic hydrocarbons having from about 6 to about 10 carbon atoms; about 10 to about 30 parts by weight of a polyamide polymer; from about 10 to about 30 parts by weights of a magnetic oxide; and from about 1 to about 4 parts by weight of a plasticizer such as dioctyl azolate, dioctyl phthalate, dodecyl azolate, or the like.
• the ink compositions may optionally contain 1/2 part by weight or more of carbon black and/or 1/2 part by weight or more of an alcohol soluble dye.
• the function of the solvent is to provide a substantially uniform viscous mixture which can be screened, rolled or applied by other well known means on to the aluminum coated polycarbonate substrate.
• the solvent must be miscible and/or compatible with the other components of the ink, must have a boiling point high enough to assure that there is no undue loss of solvent prior to application of the ink layer to the aluminized polycarbonate ribbon, yet sufficiently low to assure that most of the solvent will be evaporated during fabrication of the ribbon so that the fabricated ribbon will be effectively dry to the touch.
• the plasticizer on the other hand may be selected from a wide variety of aromatic and aliphatic oils compatible with the polyamide or other polymer resin being used in compounding the ink. It must have a boiling point higher than the temperature being transmitted through the metal layer to the ink layer. In general, any plasticizer commonly employed with the polymer utilized in the ink composition should prove suitable.
• the original function of the plasticizer was to improve the flow at the melt point, but it has been very surprisingly found that it also substantially improves print quality and the level of the signal transmission.
• An ink composition was prepared by admixing the following ingredients: Isopropyl Alcohol -49 parts by weight Toluene -20 parts by weight UNIREZ 1533 -15.5 parts by weight Polyamide Resin (Union Camp) Hercules B-350 Grade -17.5 parts by weight Magnetic oxide Carbon Black -1 part by weight Di-octyl azelate -4 parts by weight Nigrosine Alcohol Soluble Dye -1 part by weight
• the ingredients were mixed for 16 hours at 25°C in ball mill.
• the magnetic ink composition was applied to the aluminized side of a carrier substrate with a reverse roll coater.
• the carrier substrate was Mobay Chemical Corporation MAKROFOL KL3-1009, prepared from a polycarbonate film and conductive carbon black, milled in methylene chloride and cast coated on a metal drum; (Caliper, 15 microns +/- 5%; Tensile Strength, 9,500 - 11,000 psi; Elongation, 9%; Surface Resistance, 580-650 ohm sq.; Volume Resistivity, 1 ohm-cm; and a Density of 1.28); which was cast into a substrate film 24 inches wide by 15 microns thick, onto one surface of which a 1000 ⁇ layer of aluminum was applied by conventional vapor deposition techniques.
• the assembled ribbon was employed in conjunction with a standard commercial IBM Quietwriter printer (Model 5201) to magnetically imprint a series of test documents.
• the magnetically imprinted documents were then processed in a Unisys magnetic reader/sorter and a reject rate of less than 1% was observed.
• compositions in which the ratio of polyamide resin to magnetic oxide was in the range of 1:1 tended to produce clearly acceptable results while ratios in the order of 2:1 or more tended to produce marginally acceptable print characteristics at best, unless the coating weight (the thickness of the ink coating on the ribbon) is substantially increased.
• the use of thicker ink coatings on the ribbon is considered very highly undesirable not only because of the potential extra costs of laying down a thicker coating, but more importantly because the thicker coating could result in a substantially reduced footage of ribbon for a given diameter of spool which is, of course, predefined for a given species of printing equipment.
• Plasticizer levels on the order of less than about 5% by weight based on the weight of the polyamide resin tended to have a substantial adverse effect on both print quality and signal transmission such that a heavier coat weight would have to be employed with the disadvantages noted above.
• Plasticizer levels of about 25% by weight, based on the weight of the polyamide resin tended to yield acceptable results from the point of view of print quality and signal transmission; however, levels above about 25% tend to increase the possibility that the transferred ink will not be dry to the touch with resultant possibility of smudging.
• the preferred range of the plasticizer concentration is from about 5% to about 25% based on the weight of the polyamide resin, having in mind that the ratio of resin to magnetic oxide and the specific plasticizer being employed could slightly lower or raise the preferred range of plasticizer concentration.
• the present invention also contemplates the use of an optional release layer between the aluminum surface of the ribbon substrate and the ink layer.
• an optional release layer between the aluminum surface of the ribbon substrate and the ink layer.
• release layers are prepared by coating the film with a water based dispersion or emulsion of a high molecular weight polyethylene, ethylene interpolymers, ethylene vinyl acetates and acrylic latex, for example, Adcote 37R610 manufactured by Morton Thiokol, an ethylene interpolymer, and Hycar 26120 manufactured by B.F. Goodrich which is an acrylic latex.
• release layer had a clearly beneficial effect in diminishing any slight adhesion of particles of the ink layer to the aluminum layer. While the foregoing types of release layers were found to be specifically effective, such release layers are generally well known in the non-impact ribbon art and it is expected that any of the known release materials should provide results substantially equivalent to those achieved with the materials noted above.
• the present invention provides a ribbon for non-impact magnetic printing of checks and other documents traditionally handled and processed with the aid of magnetic reader/sorter equipment.
• the ribbon is composed of an electrically resistive polymer layer and a layer containing magnetic ink and erasure proof dye, plus a thin layer of metal disposed between said resistive layer and said ink layer.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Power Engineering (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Optics & Photonics (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Impression-Transfer Materials And Handling Thereof (AREA)
• Thermal Transfer Or Thermal Recording In General (AREA)
• Recording Measured Values (AREA)
• Laminated Bodies (AREA)
• Inks, Pencil-Leads, Or Crayons (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

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• 1989
  • 1989-02-24 US US07/315,421 patent/US5041331A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
• 1990
  • 1990-02-23 DE DE69028227T patent/DE69028227T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
  • 1990-02-23 EP EP90301979A patent/EP0384783B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 1990-02-23 JP JP2044252A patent/JPH031977A/ja active Pending

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